While it was always believed that Kevin Durant would consider the Golden State Warriors, the more likely scenario was that Durant would return home to Oklahoma City and attempt to finish the job he started there. Barring a plague, they will be even better next season.
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In what turned out to be Durant’s final season with Oklahoma, the Thunder were dumped out of the playoffs by the Golden State Warriors after squandering a 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference Finals.
The Mavericks had informed Barnes they would him extend him an offer sheet as a restricted free agent, but now the sides have agreed to a maximum contract and Dallas will sign Barnes to a four-year, $94 million deal as early Thursday when contracts can be finalized. The last time the Lakers sent a package of assets for a guy in the past year of his contract, his name was Dwight Howard and it didn’t end well. In comparison, the Nets recently gave Justin Hamilton, a third stringer, $6 million over two years. It’s hard to fathom how teams will defend the perimeter when Curry, Durant and Thompson are three of the best shooters in the league.
Remember, for all the talent the Warriors will put on the court, there’s still only one basketball. The Cavs lost to the Warriors in six games.
The Warriors now become the overwhelming favourites to win next season’s National Basketball Association championship, which would be their second in three years.
Well, I’m sure there’s going to be plenty of judging.
From a league perspective, however, this is not good news. When James moved from Cleveland to South Beach in 2010, LeBron took a lesser contract in order for Miami to land Chris Bosh.
I’m not talking about parity.
Interestingly, some of the teams in the hunt were told that Durant was turned off by something he heard in the Warriors’ initial presentation. The Warriors will need to find another bargain big and a few perimeter depth players, but on a team that will go into next season as prohibitive championship favourites, that shouldn’t be too hard.
Kevin Durant has been under a lot of fire the past day for his decision to sign with the Golden State Warriors.
Again, the players followed the rules. He’s among the top handful of players in the league. When James left the Cavaliers, they went from a team that had won 127 games in his final two years to a team that won 40 in the next two after he left.
“Now everybody wanna play for the heat and the Lakers?”
Yesterday, Kevin Durant decided he was going to join the Golden State Warriors.
There is also the factor that Westbrook will be a free agent next offseason. If you assume he can play until he’s 36, he’s played more than half his career with Golden State.
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The 27-year-old forward said he was joining the Warriors to enhance his growth as a player and a person. He could set up a work schedule loaded with rest nights for everyone, and it won’t matter.
